Blondin’s first tightrope-walk across Niagara Falls | History Today Blondin’s first tightrope-walk across Niagara Falls Cultural Richard Cavendish remembers how the daredevil Jean-François Gravelet stunned the world on June 30th, 1859. Jean-François Gravelet was the most spectacular funambulist, or tightrope-walker, of his day or probably any other day. Born in 1824, he was the son of a veteran of the Grande Armée who was nicknamed ‘Blondin’ for his fair hair. The family lived at Hesdin in the Pas de Calais and when a circus came to town the little boy was so fascinated by the tightrope-walkers that he decided to be one himself and started practising immediately using his father’s fishing-rod as a pole. His parents sent him for training as an acrobat at the celebrated École de Gymnase in Lyons. He made his first professional appearance as ‘The Little Wonder’ at the age of five and later adopted his father’s nickname.

Blondin’s first crossing of the Niagara Falls, in 1859, was the most famous feat in a life packed with them and like all the others was painstakingly prepared, organised and exploited for maximum publicity. He took care to enlist the support of the Niagara Falls Gazette which at first thought it was a hoax and then decided he was mad but went along anyway. Newspapers all over the country were soon interested. The rival Niagara Mail was sarcastic in its coverage and the New York Times said Blondin was a fool who ought to be arrested, but posters and handbills boosted the excitement. The railway companies laid on special trains and thousands of spectators assembled to watch. The tightrope was taken across the river in a rowing boat. More than three inches (7.5cm) thick, it sagged by some 60 feet (18m) in the middle, so it had a steep slope. The distance was a little over 1,000 feet (305m). Blondin offered to carry a volunteer over on his back but, unsurprisingly, no one stood forward.

Bands on both banks played as he began his crossing at 5.15pm and took his time over what he privately considered an easy task. He stopped and lay down for a rest at one point and stood on one leg for a while. The crossing took him a little over 17 minutes. After a pause he went back across on the rope, much faster this time. He was cheered to the echo and the feat was reported all over America and in Europe. In several later crossings Blondin introduced variations. He carried his top-hatted manager across on his back, crossed blindfolded or on stilts or in a gorilla costume and pushing a wheelbarrow. One of the wonders of the age, he built himself Niagara House in the London suburb of Ealing in 1889 and died there of diabetes in 1897, days before his 73rd birthday. He lies buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Neighbouring streets in Ealing, Blondin Avenue and Niagara Avenue, preserve his memory and there’s a Blondin Street in Bow.

Niagara Falls Stunts & Daredevils: History / History of Niagara Falls Stunting Niagara Falls Stunts & Daredevils: History In February 2012, NPC approved Nik Wallenda’s application to walk a tightrope stretched between the two countries, in recognition of the role that daredevil performances and stunting have played in the rich history and promotion of Niagara Falls. At the same time, the Commission has taken steps to ensure that such feats will not come at the expense of public safety and protecting the natural and cultural heritage that millions of visitors every year enjoy on NPC lands on the Canadian side of the river. NPC has ruled that it will consider proposals by stunting professionals no more than once in a generation, or approximately once every 20 years, as a way to pay tribute to the stunting history that helped make Niagara Falls a top global tourism destination. The Niagara Parks Commission prohibits stunting on all of its properties under the authority granted under Regulations of the Niagara Parks Act. Stunting now carries a maximum fine of $10,000.

Following is a chronology from the mid-1800s to 1951, of attempts to go over the Falls in a barrel or some other device, to go through the Class 6 rapids of the Great Gorge, or to walk across on a tightrope. Some of these stunters were successful, others died in their attempt: Stunters at the Falls ANNIE TAYLOR October 24, 1901 (Survived) Mrs. Annie Taylor, a 63-year-old schoolteacher, decided that a trip over Niagara Falls was her way to fame and fortune. On October 24, 1901, assistants strapped her (along with her cat as seen in this photo) into a special harness in a barrel. A small boat towed the barrel out into the main stream of the Niagara River and the barrel was cast loose. The rapids first slammed it one way, then the other, then came the drop and a bone-wrenching jar so violent that Mrs. Taylor was sure she hit rocks. Seventeen minutes after the plunge, the barrel had been tossed close enough to the Canadian shore to be hooked and dragged onto the rocks. Mrs.

Taylor was dazed but triumphant and being the first person to conquer the mighty Falls of Niagara, she found the fame she sought so desperately. But fortune was a bit more elusive. Twenty years after her brush with death at Niagara, she died destitute. BOBBY LEACH July 25, 1911 (Survived) Bobby Leach, an Englishman, successfully made a trip in an all-steel barrel on July 25, 1911, and then spent 23 weeks in hospital recuperating from numerous fractures and other injuries. Fifteen years later on a lecture tour in New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel, broke his leg and died of complications from the injury. CHARLES STEPHENS July 11, 1920 (Died) The next barrel stunter to try the Falls was also an Englishman, Charles Stephens. When his heavy oak barrel hit water after the drop over the Falls on July 11, 1920, Stephens went out the bottom. He was killed and only one arm was recovered.

JEAN LUSSIER July 4, 1928 (Survived) Jean Lussier, a native of Quebec, designed a six-foot rubber ball composed of 32 inner tubes and a double-wall steel frame. One of the biggest crowds on record saw the stunt on July 4, 1928. The ball took some hard knocks in the rapids but the skip over the Falls was perfect. About one hour after entering his ball, Lussier stepped ashore none the worse for wear. For many years he displayed his ball at Niagara Falls and sold small pieces of the inner tubes for souvenirs at 50 cents a piece. GEORGE STATHAKIS July 4, 1931 (Died) On July 4th, 1931, George Stathakis, a Greek chef from Buffalo, went over the Falls in a 2,000-pound contraption of wood and steel. He survived the plunge over the Falls only to die after becoming trapped behind the curtain of water for 22 hours. He had enough oxygen for only three hours. RED HILL JR.

August 6, 1951 (Died) In the summer of 1951, Red Hill Jr. planned to go over the Falls in a flimsy contrivance he called the “Thing” that consisted of 13 inner tubes held together with fish net and canvas straps. On August 6, Hill and the “Thing” headed into the rapids. It was tossed into the air, upended, thrown from side to side and bounced off rocks. It was starting to disintegrate even before it reached the Falls. When the drop came, the “Thing” disappeared into churning water at the base of the Falls. Seconds later what was left floated into view. The following day, Hill’s battered body was taken from the river. Stunters at the Niagara River Rapids CAPTAIN JOEL E ROBINSON – Boater (Survived) When the second Maid of the Mist was sold by auction, on June 6, 1861, Captain Joel E. Robinson agreed to take the boat through the rapids and deliver it to Queenston. They cast off from the dock and headed toward the rapids.

They disappeared from sight in the roughest sections of the rapids but somehow survived the jagged rocks and came safely to the dock at Queenston. CAPTAIN MATTHEW WEBB – Swimmer (Died) Captain Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel and he decided to swim the Niagara River. He dove in July 2, 1883 and soon disappeared in the first huge wave of the rapids. Webb’s body was recovered four days later down river near Lewiston, New York. CARLISLE D. GRAHAM – Barrel Rider (Survived) On July 11, 1886, Carlisle Graham was the first daredevil to navigate the Whirlpool Rapids without mishap, in a seven-foot hand-made oak barrel. Graham made three more successful trips after that. WILLIAM KENDALL – Swimmer (Survived) William Kendall, a policeman from Boston, with the help of a good life preserver, successfully made the swim through the rapids on August 22, 1886.

GEORGE POTTS/WILLIAM HAZLETT – Barrel Riders (Survived) One month later, these two made the first double trip through the rapids in a barrel on August 8, 1886. CHARLES A. PERCY - Boater (Survived) An experienced river man designed a special seventeen-foot boat with floatation tanks fore and aft. He made his first trip on August 28, 1887 and two more successful trips, one of them with William Dittrick as a passenger. On the third trip he lost his boat. ROBERT FLACK - Boater (Died) On July 4, 1888, Robert Flack, in a boat named “Phantom” filled with a buoyant filling of excelsior and wood shavings, drowned when the boat overturned and stayed upside down while it was pulled around and around in the Whirlpool. PETER NISSEN - Boater (Survived) In his boat “The Fool Killer”, the smallest steamboat afloat, Peter Nissen made the trip October 12, 1901 without a head of steam as the smokestack was carried away.

Nissen survived and his claim to fame was that his stunt was the first to be recorded on movie film. The Edison Movie Co. filmed the event. Tightrope Walkers over the Niagara Gorge JEAN FRANCOIS GRAVELET (THE GREAT BLONDIN) Professionally known as “The Great Blondin”, Gravelet was the first of many tightrope walkers to appear at Niagara Falls. He was a professional artist and showman trained in the great tradition of the European circus. At age 31 he came to America and made the announcement that he would cross the gorge of the Niagara River on a tightrope. On June 30, 1859 the rope was in position and at five o’clock in the afternoon, Blondin started the trip that was to make history. Watchers saw him lower a rope from the tightrope to the Maid of the Mist, pull up a bottle and sit down while he refreshed himself. He began his ascent toward the Canadian shore, paused, steadied the balancing pole and suddenly executed a back somersault.

Never content merely to repeat his last performance, Blondin crossed his rope on a bicycle, walked blindfolded, pushed a wheelbarrow, cooked an omelet in the centre and made the trip with his hands and feet manacled. Yet even these stunts failed to satisfy Blondin’s urge to test him. He announced that on August 19 he would cross the gorge carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back. It was to be the supreme test of Blondin’s skill and stamina. According to Colcord, the trip was a nightmare. In the unguyed centre section, the pair swayed violently. Blondin was fighting for his life. He broke into a desperate run to reach the first guy rope. When he reached it and steadied himself, it broke. Once more the pair swayed alarmingly as Blondin again ran for the next guy. When they reached it Blondin gasped for Colcord to get down. Six times in all Colcord had to dismount while Blondin had to charge the crowd on the brink to prevent the press of people forcing them back in the precipice. He died in England at the age of 73.

WILLIAM LEONARD HUNT A resident of Port Hope, Ontario, known as Signor Farini, William Hunt duplicated almost all Blondin’s stunts, but never managed to steal the limelight from Blondin. The Niagara Falls Gazette reported Farini’s September 5, 1860 washing machine stunt, “He strapped an Empire Washing Machine to his back and walked slowly to the desired place in the centre of the rope”. He secured his balancing pole and machine on the cable. He then drew water from the river nearly 200 feet below, in primitive style, with a pail and cord. Several ladies, desiring to patronize him in his character as a washerwoman, had given him their handkerchiefs to wash. Before long his washing was done, the handkerchiefs wrung out and hung up to dry on the uprights and crossbars of the machine. With the washing flapping in the wind, he adjusted his load and returned.

HARRY LESLIE After the 1859 and 1860 performances of Blondin and Farini, there was a lull until June 15, 1865 when Harry Leslie, billed as “The American Blondin”, crossed the Whirlpool Rapids gorge on a rope. ANDREW JENKINS On August 24, 1869 Andrew Jenkins crossed at the same site, riding a velocipede. MARIA SPELTERINA A 23-year-old Italian woman, Maria Spelterina was the only woman to cross the Niagara gorge on a tightrope. In 1867, she walked backwards, put a paper bag over her head, and wore peach baskets on her feet to inject some drama into her crossings. STEPHEN PEER Stephen Peer of Niagara Falls, Ontario made several crossings, but a few days after his walk on June 25, 1887, his body was found on the rocks below. It was assumed that he had fallen while attempting a night crossing wearing his street shoes.

SAMUEL DIXON On September 6, 1890, Dixon, a Toronto photographer, attired in terra cotta coloured tights and black silk trunks and wearing his lucky Civil War cap crossed the gorge on the same cable used by Stephen Peer. He made a number of crossings performing various stunts on the wire. CLIFFORD CALVERLEY On October 12, 1892, a Toronto steeplejack, Clifford Calverley, crossed several times on a 1.9 cm (3/4") steel cable. On one of his crossings he established a record when he made the trip in 6 minutes, 32 ½ seconds. JAMES HARDY James Hardy at 21 years of age was the youngest person to cross the gorge on a wire and made several crossings in July 1896. His performances were the last tightrope walking displays permitted in Niagara Falls. Who was the First Person to Cross Niagara Falls Who was the First Person to Cross Niagara Falls 11 Jun, 2013 who was 0 Niagara Falls is a famous series of waterfalls located on the border of the United States (New York State) and Canada (Ontario Province).

The falls (Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls) make up the end of the Niagara Gorge. This part of the gorge has been the site of a number of crossings on a tightrope. Although theses crossings are often listed as “crossing Niagara Falls”, most crossings do not occur over the falls and have actually taken place across the gorge itself near the current location of Rainbow Bridge. Let’s find out who was the first to successfully attempt this impressive feat. Who was the first person to successfully cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope? French acrobat Jean François “Blondin” Gravelet (also known as Jean-François Gravelet and Charles Blondin) came up with the idea of crossing the Canadian-American border at Niagara falls via tightrope in the 1850′s. He first came to the United States in 1855 and performed in New York City. In 1859 he came up with his plan and on 30 June, 1859, he crossed Niagara Falls on a 340 m (1,100 ft) tightrope near the location of the current Rainbow Bridge.

His tightrope was 50 m (160 ft) above the water. He made the crossing a number of other times, including blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, on stilts, and carrying his manager on his back during the crossing on three occasions. He even stopped on one occasion to cook and eat an omelet! He became famous for his stunts during the crossings and thousands of people would turn out to see him cross Niagara Falls. Did you know? Gravelet inspired many others to make the crossing between 1859 and 1896. However, tightrope crossings were ended in 1896 when a new law was created to outlaw this stunt. In 2012 American acrobat Nik Wallenda received special permission to became the first person to walk across the falls in 116 years. He crossed near Horseshoe Falls on a tightrope that was 550 m (1,800 ft) and is believed to be the longest unsupported tightrope walk on record. He was required to bring his passport and present it to authorities on the other side! The following video shows portions of his walk across the falls.

Related Articles A Daredevil History of Niagara Falls - History in the Headlines A Daredevil History of Niagara Falls June 15, 2012 By History.com Staff Share this: A Daredevil History of Niagara Falls Author A Daredevil History of Niagara Falls URL Google This evening, daredevil Nik Wallenda, scion of a legendary highwire family, will attempt a tightrope walk across Niagara Falls. The dangerous feat was last accomplished in 1896, when James Hardy crossed the gorge several times on a wire. As Wallenda prepares for his death-defying balancing act, explore the history of Niagara Falls and the many stunts it has witnessed over the years. 1678 Franciscan monk and explorer Louis Hennepin becomes the first European explorer to encounter Niagara Falls. Impressed, Hennepin estimates the falls to be an incredible 600 feet high—though in reality they rise 170 feet. Summer 1859 Jean François Gravelet-Blondin, known as the “Great Blondin,” begins a famous series of tightrope walks across the Niagara gorge. The act draws crowds as large as 25,000 people.

Blondin crosses in increasingly difficult ways, riding a bicycle, pushing a wheelbarrow and even with his hands and legs bound in chains. His most difficult crossing takes place on August 19, when he manages to carry his manager over the rope on his back. Italian tightrope walker Maria Spelterini crosses Niagara Falls in July 1876. 1867 Maria Spelterina, a 23-year-old Italian woman, becomes the only woman to cross the gorge by tightrope. Seeking to add some drama to the events, she crosses Niagara wearing woven baskets instead of shoes and with her head covered by a paper bag. July 15, 1885 The Niagara Reservation State Park opens, attracting 750,000 visitors. It is the first state park established in the United States. 1887 Twenty years after the last crossing, Niagara Falls claims its first—and only—tightrope victim when the body of Stephen Peer, a local Ontario native, is discovered. Just days before, Peer had made several successful trips, and authorities determine that he died after a botched attempt at a nighttime crossing.

September 6, 1890 Three years after Peer’s death, Samuel Dixon uses the same cable as Peer to make several successful crossings while performing a variety of stunts. October 12, 1892 Toronto’s Clifford Calverly sets the record for the fastest crossing across the gorge. He makes his way across a 3/4-inch steel cable in just 6 minutes, 33.5 seconds. July 1896 The last tightrope crossing for more than 115 years is completed by 21-year-old James Hardy. October 24, 1901 Not only the first woman but the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, Annie Edison Taylor is a poor widow when she arrives in Niagara Falls in 1901. The 63-year-old (who claims to be 42) sees the stunt as a way to make money. After hiring a manager, she braves the falls in a barrel she designs herself. She survives, but “the heroine of Horseshoe Falls” doesn’t end up with the financial windfall she expects. She works as a Niagara street vendor for 20 years and dies penniless.

July 11, 1920 Charles Stephens, the second man to go over the falls, takes the plunge in a 600-pound oak barrel. The force of the water rips the barrel apart, and Stephens is killed. His right arm is the only part of him to be recovered. July 4, 1928 Jean Lussier goes over the falls inside a 6-foot rubber ball lined with oxygen-filled rubber tubes. He survives and afterwards earns extra money by selling pieces of the ball’s rubber tubes. July 4, 1930 Adventurer George Stathakis goes over the falls in a 10-foot, 1-ton wooden barrel. Sadly, however, Stathakis’ barrel is caught behind the falls for 14 hours. With only enough air to live for three hours, Stathakis dies before he is rescued, but his 105-year-old pet turtle, Sonny Boy, survives the trip. August 5, 1951 Red Hill Jr. braves Horseshoe Falls on what he calls “the thing,” a flimsily constructed raft made of 13 inner tubes tied together with rope and enclosed in a fish net.

Soon after his plunge, the raft’s inner tubes begin popping to the surface of the river, but there is no sign of Hill. His bruised body is not recovered until the next day. September 27, 1989 Canadians Peter DeBernardi and Geoffrey Petkovich become the first team to go over the falls together, enclosed face to face in a single barrel. They survive with minor injuries. June 5, 1990 Jessie Sharp, who hopes to advance his career as a stuntman by going over Niagara Falls, attempts the feat in a whitewater kayak without a helmet or a life vest. His body is never recovered. October 1, 1995 Robert Overacker tries to go over the falls on a jet ski. The 15th person since 1901 to attempt the feat, he does not survive. June 18, 1995 Steven Trotter and Lori Martin become the first man and woman to make it over the falls together in one barrel. Since then, the regulatory body that governs the falls, the Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), has refused to issue permits for stunts. The first exception has been granted to daredevil Nik Wallenda.

In the future, the NPC plans to issue permits just “once in a generation,” or roughly every 20 years. Tags Charles Blondin Biography - life, family, children, name, death, history, wife, school, son Charles Blondin Biography Charles Blondin Biography French daredevil acrobat Charles Blondin (1824–1897) gained fame as the first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The amazing feat gained Blondin international recognition and helped make him a wealthy entertainer. Using the stage name Charles Blondin, Jean-Francois Gravelet rightly earned the reputation as the greatest "funambulist" of his time. Upon first glance that term would seem to imply fun, but in fact it indicates activities involving great personal risk. Literally translated into English, funambulist means tightrope walker, and Gravelet took that popular performance art form to previously unachieved heights. The future famed tightrope walker and acrobat was born in St. Omer, France, on February 28, 1824.

At various times throughout his storied career, Gravelet was billed as "The Great Blondin," "The Daredevel Wire Walker," and "The Prince of Manila," names that are as evocative of a highly specialized skill as they are of an era. Inspired by Circus Performer Gravelet became interested in high wire acrobatics at a very early age. In 1829, when he was five years old, a circus troupe performed near his home, and Gravelet became enthralled by the tightrope walker. It was the first time he had ever seen anyone attempting such stunts. He was so impressed that he felt compelled to try and accomplish the same kind of feats. Almost immediately after he returned home from the circus, Gravelet erected a makeshift tightrope in his back yard, using two chairs as supporting structures, and tried to master the skill of rope walking. Instead of discouraging this rather risky pursuit, which may have been an understandable reaction, Gravelet's father, who was a gymnast, supported his son's ambitions. That same year he enrolled his son in the Ecole de Gymase, a school focused on physical education that was located in Lyon, France.

Gravelet proved to be quite adept, and after only six months of training he made his amateur performance debut. Billed as "The Little Wonder," the future Blondin became a popular attraction, as his performances demonstrated surprising skill and originality. Unfortunately, his early life was marked by tragedy. When Gravelet was only nine years old, his father passed away. Now an orphan, Gravelet was forced to fend for himself. As such, he turned professional to earn a living. Already exhibiting the sensibilities of a true showman with his precociously dramatic style, the resourceful youngster embarked on a career that would bring him great fame and fortune. Became "Blondin" In 1851 he was recruited by an agent for William Niblo, the famed theatrical promoter, to perform with the Ravel Troupe of family acrobats in the United States at Niblo's Garden. Gravelet then toured America with the troupe that, at one point, performed in New York City, working for P. T.

Barnum as part of the world-famous circus impresario's "Greatest Show on Earth." During this period, Gravelet assumed his stage name, Charles Blondin, which he selected, in part, because of his blond hair. During his early years in America, Blondin married his first wife, Charlotte, whom he met in New York. The couple had three children, who were all born while the couple were on tour. Their first child, Adele, was born in New York. Son Edward was born in Louisiana, while their second daughter, Isis, was born in Ohio. Walked Across Niagara Falls Blondin toured with the Ravel Troupe for several years. In 1858 the itinerary took him to Niagara Falls, located near the United States/Canadian border in upstate New York. Seeing this enormous natural wonder for the first time, he became obsessed with the idea of crossing the gorge on a tightrope. He finally achieved that ambition in 1859, when he became the first person ever to walk a rope across Niagara Falls. It would prove to be the greatest feat of his career, and it garnered him international renown. At first, official roadblocks thwarted his goal.

Blondin originally wanted to string his rope to Goat Island, a small island situated in the middle of Niagara Falls in the Niagara River, but he was denied permission. The surrounding community felt that the stunt would somehow demean the Falls' magnificent splendor and reduce the natural attraction to a stage for lowbrow entertainment. In addition, local officials feared the attempt would result in a horrifying accident. But Blondin was eventually granted permission to string his rope about a mile further downriver from the island, and on June 30, 1859, a crowd of 100,000 people witnessed Blondin's historic feat. For this first attempt, Blondin used a single three-inch hemp cord that was 1,100 feet long and rigged 160 feet above the Falls at one side and 270 feet at the other. After this first successful crossing, Blondin performed the stunt many times throughout the next year. Each time the crowds grew larger, and he employed different and much more dangerous variations. Once he crossed the Falls while blindfolded. On another occasion, he pushed a wheelbarrow across the rope.

On August 17, 1859, he crossed the Falls while carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back. On September 14, 1860, he traversed the tightrope while walking on stilts. During other performances he stopped in mid-crossing to do tricks. Once he carried a small stove on his back, stopped at the middle of the rope and prepared himself an omelet, which he then ate as his amazed audience watched. Another time he balanced a chair on the rope and stood on it. Sometimes he stopped in mid-course to take photographs of the crowd down below. In September of 1860, the Prince of Wales was one of the many witnesses who observed Blondin carrying his assistant, Romain Mouton, on his back. When the Prince was asked if he would like to be carried on Blondin's back for the return journey, he understandably refused. Further, the Prince implored Blondin never to perform such a dangerous stunt again. Blondin, of course, never complied with the request.

When making the crossings, Blondin used ropes that measured either 900 or 1,200 feet in length, depending on where the line was situated. During this period of his career, he became known as "the Prince of Manila," because the rope he used was made of Manila hemp. In all, Blondin walked across Niagara Falls 17 times. In between crossings, Blondin bought a house in the town of Niagara, where he moved with his family. Achieved Fame and Fortune Because of his Niagara Falls crossings, Blondin garnered great fame across the world and became known as "The Great Blondin." A true showman with a flair for the dramatic, and described as likeable and charismatic, he remained a popular performer for his entire life and was fondly remembered after his death. Unsurprisingly, he had a large ego, but that quality only endeared him to others. Because of his feats, he often received personal honors and gifts. His skills also made him a rich man. Following his American high wire triumphs, Blondin became a highly paid attraction and a huge draw.

It has been reported that his fee was $500 for a performance, and that during the height of his career he earned nearly half a million dollars a year. Those figures were quite substantial ones for the time. Toured England and Europe Not long after his Niagara Falls accomplishments, Blondin retired to Ealing, England, located near London. Now a rich man, he moved his family into a large home that he christened "Niagara Villa." But he did not remain inactive for long. In 1861 Blondin honored the request of the Prince of Wales and performed in London at the famous Crystal Palace, where he recreated his various Niagara Falls stunts (e.g., somersaults, walking on stilts) against a painted backdrop of the North American landmark. Throughout that year and the next, he made numerous noteworthy international appearances as he toured the United Kingdom and Europe. He always drew enormous crowds whenever he appeared. Notable engagements included his performances in Scotland, where Blondin stretched the limits of his audacity.

During a two-performance stint in Edinburgh in September of 1861, held at the Royal Botanic Garden (then known as the Experimental Gardens), more than 5,000 paying customers nervously watched as Blondin was blindfolded and placed in a canvas sack that reached only to his knees, leaving him free to walk across the tightrope. With his characteristic dramatic style, Blondin faked a few slips as he started out across the rope, which produced collective gasps from the audience far below. When he reached the other side, the relieved audience applauded long and loud. In the second performance he carried a man on his back. In Glasgow, Blondin made two outdoor appearances, performing on a tightrope stretched across two 70-foot-high masts that were positioned 300 feet apart. The performances drew crowds estimated at 10,000. The United Kingdom tour was also notable for a Liverpool performance that nearly ended in tragedy. Blondin had strapped a lion into a wheelbarrow and had begun pushing it across the tightrope when a guy rope, a supporting structural device, became ensnared around the wheelbarrow. Fortunately the performer and his four-legged assistant were unharmed.

In 1862 Blondin returned to the Crystal Palace for 12 performances that netted him a total of 1,200 pounds, a huge sum of money at that time. During this extended engagement, he walked on a tightrope rigged across the center transept at a height of 180 feet above the facility's concrete floor. To make the feat even more dramatic, he pushed his five-year-old daughter Adele in a wheelbarrow, as she dropped rose petals down into the large audience. The press and the public reacted in horror at this risk to the child's well being. As a result, Britain's home secretary ordered him to refrain from placing her in such danger. Blondin complied, and during subsequent performances he executed his regular repertoire of feats such as cooking an omelet on the high wire, turning somersaults and walking on stilts, all of which were sufficiently dangerous and breathtaking to satisfy the enormous crowds. His appearances caused famed English writer Charles Dickens to comment, "Half of London is here eager for some dreadful accident." Later Career Blondin kept performing into his seventies, and became a living legend on an international scale.

Demonstrating that an old performer can indeed learn new tricks, he developed a cycling act on the tightrope. Though he was comfortably settled in his Ealing home, he could still be persuaded to make occasional trips to the United States and Europe. In 1882 he responded to a request to perform in the United States in a series of exhibitions in Staten Island, New York. He made his final appearance in 1896, the year before he died, in Belfast, Ireland. Despite placing himself at great danger throughout his career, Blondin died peacefully in his bed at his Ealing home on February 19, 1897. He was 75 years old. The cause of death was listed as diabetes. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London next to his first wife, Charlotte, who died in 1888, and where his second wife, Katherine, who died in 1901, would also be buried. Honored in Art Besides the accolades and adulation that he received during his career, Blondin was paid tribute by other artistic efforts both during his life and after his death.

In the late nineteenth century, German musician and theater manager Rudolf Bial composed the "The Blondin March" in his honor. In 1992 a statue of Blondin was erected on the Lady-wood Middleway ring road in England, near the Edgbaston Reservoir in Birmingham, where Blondin performed a famous tightrope crossing in 1873. In 1997 the Blondin Community Orchard was planted by the London Borough of Ealing to commemorate the centenary of his death. In the twentieth century, Peruvian playwright Alonso Alegria wrote "Crossing Niagara," based on Blondin's life. The play was staged in several countries before making its U.S. premiere in New York City at the Folger Theater on February 19, 1981.

Periodicals Niagara Falls tightrope walk: Nik Wallenda to attempt 1st highwire crossing above falls | Daily Mail Online comments Nik Wallenda at ABC Studios in New York City: Tomorrow he will make a bid to become the first man to tightrope walk across the Niagara Falls There are few physical feats left in the world that nobody has ever dared attempt, but tomorrow one of them can be struck off the list when Nik Wallenda steps out on a 2 in-thick steel cable to make a 1,800ft journey from the U.S. into Canada. Watched by an estimated 125,000 people below and some half a billion on TV, his will be a border crossing like no other as he becomes the first tightrope walker to try to walk from one side of Niagara’s famous 175ft-high Horseshoe Falls to the other. Even without the terrifying sight of America’s most powerful waterfall crashing into the rocky depths 200ft below him, Wallenda will spend 40 minutes being buffeted by strong winds, blinding spray and, if he’s really unlucky, attacks from the peregrine falcons who nest nearby.

But if anyone can do it, it is probably Wallenda, the 33-year-old American holder of six Guinness World Records titles for his tightrope heroics, and the powerfully-built heir to seven generations of the tightrope dynasty, the Great Wallendas. Yet his challenge is considerable. Nobody has previously tried to tightrope walk across the lip of America’s most powerful waterfall for two very good reasons. First, tightrope acts around Niagara have been banned for more than a century, and second, even when they were permitted, the bravest daredevils stayed well clear of the Falls themselves, where 200,000 cubic feet of water rush over the edge every second, crashing down at speeds of 70mph as the Niagara River drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. This spectacular demonstration of nature’s power has claimed many lives over the years, and some local experts have spent recent weeks predicting with sombre certainty that it is about to claim another. The Wallendas have never used nets or safety wires, a tradition that has claimed the lives of three of them already. But ABC, the Disney-owned TV network which is paying handsomely to televise the walk live, has now intervened.

It doesn’t want to broadcast a man plunging to his death and is insisting the reluctant Wallenda wear a safety harness. After spending two years persuading local U.S. and Canadian authorities that allowing his attempt would help their struggling economies, Wallenda needs the sponsorship from the TV deal. Thus, he appears to have accepted that he must wear a harness with a wire attached to the tightrope. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share But don’t be surprised if he slips off the harness and trusts his life to skill, which he says he will do if it impedes his movement at all. Now that would leave the TV controllers with a nasty dilemma. Wallenda certainly isn’t planning to fall, and points out that his acrobat wife Erendira (he proposed, of course, while they were both on a tightrope) and two young sons will be watching. He’s a born-again Christian family man and consummate professional, he says, not one of those eccentrics who have lost their lives in hare-brained Niagara stunts.

Scroll down for video Wired: Niagara's Horseshoe falls, across which Wallenda will try to tightrope walk Some might have trouble appreciating the distinction, but Wallenda, who stays calm on the wire by talking to God, says he is putting his faith in a lifetime of training, which started when he was two, and in the 100-ton weights that will anchor the cranes holding the wire at each end 25ft above the top of the Falls. When he’s not conversing with God, he can speak to his biological father, half of his two-man support team, through a microphone earpiece. ‘I don’t even think about failure,’ Wallenda said this week. ‘I don’t even think about failure’ Nik Wallenda He says he is ‘battling this natural wonder because what I’m doing is a natural wonder. If not, there’d be 150 people behind me on the wire.’ So he’s not exactly modest. But, then, who but someone with an unshakeable self-belief would go anywhere near a 200ft-high tightrope in the first place?

Last-minute training has involved balancing on a wire with his 68-year-old mother Delilah on his shoulders to focus his mind, while being sprayed with fire hoses and blasted by wind machines to replicate conditions over the falls. (His mother even sewed him the special elk skin suede shoes he will wear to provide good grip, but not so much grip that they stick.) He has also substituted the usual 24ft pole he carries for a heavier 40ft one to counteract the strong winds, which he supports with a brace strapped around his neck. Around a dozen funambulists, as tightrope walkers are correctly named, have made it across the Niagara River gorge before. But, as the competitive Wallenda is at pains to emphasise, none dared venture across the top of the Falls, but crossed the more tranquil, narrower sections of the gorge downstream. Don't look down: This will be the first time anyone has tried to walk over the falls themselves rather than downstream in the gorge The first to do it was another inveterate showman, Charles Blondin, on June 30, 1859.

Blondin made trip after trip across the gorge, once carrying his terrified manager over on his back, and another time humping over a stove which he used halfway across to cook an omelette. How typically French. But, then, Blondin had to compete for attention with a rival, The Great Farini, aka New Yorker William Hunt, the first white man to cross the Kalahari desert. Hunt traversed the Niagara gorge in 1860, on one journey hefting a hand-cranked washing machine on his back. Stopping halfway along the wire, he paused to rinse out his underwear, to the delight of his female fans watching from dry land. As the list of successful crossings grew longer, stuntmen tried to find something new to do each time to impress the thousands — sometimes hundreds of thousands — who turned out to watch. In 1869, British-born stuntman Andrew ‘Professor’ Jenkins went over on an early bicycle which, to the disappointment of a crowd anticipating disaster, had been adapted with wooden wheel frames grooved to sit on the hemp rope.

Another Englishman, Henry Bellini, specialised in tightrope walking halfway across the gorge and then jumping 200ft into the churning waters far below. There were, needless to say, tragedies amid the show-off triumphs. Stephen Peer, a Canadian tightrope walker, made several successful crossings only to make the fatal mistake of trying it after a night’s drinking, whereupon he plunged to his death. Oscar Williams, a local steeplejack who called himself the Great Houdin, tried to go across in 1910 by sliding down a sloping cable holding on to a small pulley only by his teeth. Unfortunately, he stopped moving halfway across as the cable slackened and, watched by a horrified 80,000-strong crowd, had to cling on ignominiously for 45 minutes (mercifully, he managed to get his arms and legs around the wire) until he could be rescued.

The first to cross the gorge: French acrobat and tightrope walker Charles Blondin was the first ever person to cross a section of Niagara Falls on a 1,000 foot long tightrope in 1859, but chose a calmer spot downstream Eventually, alarmed by the growing death toll from stunts, and their tacky carnival atmosphere, city bosses on both sides of the border banned them. Tightrope walking was beginning to look a bit passe anyway, with discerning daredevils increasingly preferring to just launch themselves over the lip of the Falls. No descent was crueller than the very first. In 1827 a local hotel bought a condemned lake schooner called the Michigan, decked it out as a pirate ship and filled it with a ‘cargo of ferocious animals’: two bears, a buffalo, two raccoons, a dog and a goose. The bears managed to get off before it plunged over the edge, but the goose miraculously survived.

'I would warn anybody not to do it': Annie Edson Taylor, 63, in 1901 became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel A plucky 63-year-old former teacher named Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to ‘shoot’ the Falls in a barrel and survive. Desperate for money, in 1901, aged 63, she went over the top strapped into a specially designed oak barrel weighted down with a 200lb anvil for ballast. A bedraggled Taylor, who had previously put a cat in the barrel for a test run (it survived), was fished out at the bottom suffering nothing more than a scalp wound and mild concussion. ‘I would rather face a cannon knowing that I would be blown to pieces than go over the Falls again,’ she said later. ‘I would warn anybody not to do it.’ Her advice was soundly ignored by the 14 or more people who have successfully made the same nightmare journey since then. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the wildest Niagara stunts tended to be dreamed up by the British.

There was Arthur Midleigh, an upper-class Victorian Englishman who died when he was swept after he tried to row across the swirling rapids above in a small boat, the British ensign fluttering from the bow. And there was Captain Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel, who in 1883 tried to swim the lethal Whirlpool Rapids below the Falls. His battered body was discovered four days later. Rather luckier was Bobby Leach, a Cornish circus stuntman who became the second person to go over the falls in a barrel in 1911, breaking both knee caps and his jaw in his 8ft steel drum. Charles Stephens, a 58-year-old Bristol barber, meanwhile, stubbornly ignored warnings that his own design of barrel wasn’t suitable. His 1920 descent ended disastrously when, hitting the water at the bottom, the anvil he had strapped to his feet as ballast went through the bottom of the barrel and took Stephens with it. When the barrel was recovered, only his right arm remained, ghoulishly still strapped in its harness. More recent thrillseekers have found even more unwise ways to go down the Falls.

In 1990, a canoeist didn’t even bother to wear a helmet when he paddled over the edge — and predictably never made the booking he had placed at a restaurant further downstream. Five years later, another man rode over the falls on a jet-ski, plunging to his death when the parachute he was wearing failed to open. As for jobless American Kirk Jones, sadly we will never know how he managed in 2003 to become the first person to survive the descent without any kind of flotation device, suffering only minor bumps and bruises. Jones had been drinking with a friend beforehand and failed to explain how to use the camcorder he gave the friend to film his stunt before jumping into the icy water. So no footage exists of one of the more hare-brained adventures ever undertaken. So how will Nik Wallenda fare tomorrow? The world will wish him well as he steps on to that wire above the raging torrent. Yet if he does shrug off his safety harness, as he has threatened to do, and a strong wind begins to blow, we may yet see a new chapter written in the annals of courage and disaster which tell the story of Niagara Falls.

Should he make it safely across, there will be one formality that will have to take place: he’ll have to show his passport. Video: Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda talks to the Press before his stunt The Great Blondin and True Saving Faith - Dr. Ray Pritchard Christian Blog Crosswalk.com aims to offer the most compelling biblically-based content to Christians on their walk with Jesus . Crosswalk.com is your online destination for all areas of Christian Living – faith, family, fun, and community. Each category is further divided into areas important to you and your Christian faith including Bible study , daily devotions , marriage , parenting , movie reviews , music, news, and more. Dr. Ray Pritchard Christian Blog and Commentary The Great Blondin and True Saving Faith In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley Encouragement for Today Daily Hope with Rick Warren SEE ALL DEVOTIONALS 2012 Jun 15 Comments This evening Nik Wallenda will attempt to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls in an event televised by ABC. While he will be the first to attempt to walk directly across the precipice of the falls, he is not the first to walk a wire from one side to another. That honor belongs to someone else.

From his story we learn the true nature of the faith that saves us. In the nineteenth century the greatest tightrope walker in the world was a man named Charles Blondin. On June 30, 1859, he became the first man in history to walk on a tightrope across Niagara Falls. Over twenty-five thousand people gathered to watch him walk 1,100 feet suspended on a tiny rope 160 feet above the raging waters. He worked without a net or safety harness of any kind. The slightest slip would prove fatal. When he safely reached the Canadian side, the crowd burst into a mighty roar. In the days that followed, he would walk across the Falls many times. Once he walked across on stilts; another time he took a chair and a stove with him and sat down midway across, cooked an omelet, and ate it. Once he carried his manager across riding piggyback. And once he pushed a wheelbarrow across loaded with 350 pounds of cement. On another occasion he asked the cheering spectators if they thought he could push a man across sitting in a wheelbarrow. A mighty roar of approval rose from the crowd.

Spying a man cheering loudly, he asked, “Sir, do you think I could safely carry you across in this wheelbarrow?” “Yes, of course.” “Get in,” the Great Blondin replied with a smile. The man refused. That makes it clear, doesn’t it? It’s one thing to believe a man can walk across by himself. It’s another thing to believe he could safely carry you across. But it’s something else entirely to get into the wheelbarrow yourself. It’s not enough to believe that Christ theoretically could save you. Until you “get in the wheelbarrow” and trust all to him, you are not saved. But I have some good news for you. Jesus has carried many people safely across the great divide, and he has never lost anyone yet. You can trust in him! You can reach the author at [email protected] . Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.

Question: Who was the first man to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope
Answer: Blondin